School plan out

EAST HADDAM -- For the third time in a year residents have voted down a new elementary school.

MATTHEW HIBGEE

Published
12:00 am EDT, Friday, October 25, 2002

The unofficial results showed a 62 vote margin, with 1,176 residents voting against and 1,114 in support of the $13 million pre-kindergarten through second grade school proposal at Shadybrook campground.

Well over 50 people, mostly in support of the referendum, crowded around the cast iron stove in the Grange Hallto listen to the vote tallies. Hopeful faces began falling when the no vote took a commanding 60 vote lead after the election administrator read out the results from the first two machines. After the numbers from all 6 machines were totaled, disappointment and bitterness mixed with resolve.

"The gauntlet has been thrown for a new middle school. They (Citizens for a Middle School First) own the school problem in town now," said Pete Govert, chairman for Yes for Educational Space.

"Let's see if they can do it. Their flier said September 2005 they'd have a new school. I want their flier to be a reality," said YES member Madeline Francese.

Wyley Peckham, Treasurer for Citizens for a Middle School First and chief gadfly behind all three referendum defeats said he intends to begin work on fulfilling his promise tomorrow.

"We are pleased with the outcome. It shows that the town has clearly rejected a pre-k through 2 school for the third time. I would like to invite all those who went to work on the other side to work with us to build a middle school. I will pledge my personal efforts to building a middle school," said Peckham.

Board of Education Chairwoman Pam Gourlie would not say whether the board would pursue an elementary school for a fourth time or begin looking at a middle school project. She said the board will first meet with the Long Range Facilities Planning Committee. Then, she said, the board will hold a special meeting with the town to gather input on how it should proceed.

Superintendent of Schools Steven Durham questioned whether 62 votes constituted a broad based feeling that an elementary school was not the best solution for the town's overcrowded student population.

"But this has been defeated three times now," he added. "That has to give the board pause to stop and discuss what to do next."

Durham also noted that the board distributed more information this time than in the previous two referendums.

Those spent time meeting with architects and pouring over designs to plan for a school that won't be built were left feeling disheartened.

"Four years of work down the drain. Now this doesn't change the overcrowding," said building committee chairman Everett Herden.

Grappling with the defeat, Gourlie was upset with the fliers Citizens for a Middle School First had mailed out to residents. She said they presented unrealistic timelines for building a middle school and did not consider the best manner in which to educate children.